Experiment
by Iris Barry
Summary: A story where Nightwing is a clone of himself. Is actually pretty good, please read!
1. Prologue

Experiment

CRINE LABS 1-2-2010

Two men stood in a lab outside of an empty cryo pod.

"Are you ready?" One asked. It was obvious that he was the older of the two, with his brunette hair streaked with grey. He was wearing a lab coat and he held a clipboard.

"Yup. When do we start?" The younger man replied. He looked to be in his early 20's, with jet-black hair and dazzling blue eyes. He was wearing a pair of loose back shorts and an equally loose white shirt with the CRINE logo on the bottom of it.

"Everything is in place, we can begin at once" The doctor replied. The younger man smiled, stepping into the cylindrical pod.

"See you on the other side, Doctor Thorn"

"I will see you soon, Richard, if all goes well." Richard stepped into the pod and turned to face the doctor. Thorn pressed 'Begin Program', and the pod began to fill with water. Richard looked at the clone his consciousness was about to be transferred to. It was identical to him in almost every way. _Soon_, he thought, _that's where I'll be_. The water was almost up to his mouth. Taking one last breath, Richard closed his eyes and allowed himself to be submerged completely. It seemed like everything was going to be fine, but then things began to go wrong. A red warning light began flashing as both Richard and the clone began convulsing. "What?" the doctor cried. "Miyu, get over here now! No, no, no!"

Miyu rushed over to doctor Thorn. She was one of the many strange creatures in the lab, having the appearance of a humanoid leopard. She was wearing a lab coat with the CRINE Labs insignia on the breast. "What is happening, sir?" Miyu asked worriedly, inspecting the situation. Thorn was at the pod's monitor, rapidly trying to stop the catastrophe that was playing out. She ran to the clone, beginning the emergency transfer. As suddenly as he had started, Richard stopped convulsing. The clone, however, gasped, his eyes opening wide.

"Richard, are you alright?" Thorn asked, rushing over to check on the other. Richard nodded, his breathing steadying.

"Y-yeah, I think so." He choked out. "What… What happened?"

"You… died."

So, what do you think? It's my first young Justice Fanfic. Please Review!


	2. Chapter 1

Richard sat up, gasping from the dream he had. He tossed the sheets off of his body. Standing, Rick stumbled into his bathroom, turning the sink on as he entered. After splashing some cold water on his face, he examined himself in the mirror. His wet ebony hair was plastered to his forehead, almost to the top of his ice-blue eyes.

The nightmare he had been having replayed in his mind, making him shiver. The scariest part wasn't that he had died, but that it wasn't just a dream. It was a memory of three years ago, when he had first become Nightwing. The only four who knew were Wally, Roy, Artemis, and himself. Other than that, it was a complete secret. One that he intended to keep for as long as possible. Richard grabbed a towel to dry his face of when his cell stared ringing.

"One sec." He muttered to himself as he walked over to his phone, drying his face as he did. Dropping the towel, Rick took his phone of its charger and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey Rick!" The caller answered. It was Wally. "I'm at Mount Justice. Roy's here too. Get over here, we have a big problem." He sounded worried…

"How big?" Rick interrogated, moving to the closet to get his Nightwing suit.

"Huge. Someone broke into CRINE a few minutes ago." Rick froze. That was bad. Really bad.

"I'll be right over." He hung up, pulling on his suit and mask as fast as he could. Rick then sprinted to the Zeta tube in the Bat Cave, angry that no one had woken him earlier. Forget his injuries from the previous night, this was important! One wrong move and, well, no more Richard Grayson. At the mountain, the rest of the team was already there, even Tim. He was standing by some of the new kids. Sadly, Garfield was the only name out of the new group besides Tim that Rick wasn't constantly forgetting, and that was only because they had met before.

"Nightwing, what're you doing here? I thought you were taking the day off." Megan stated, giving the dark-haired hero a searching look. He responded with a shrug.

"Well, if you're gonna bust into CRINE, it would be nice to have someone who knows the place help out." He responded. Most of the others, excluding Roy, Arty, and Wally, looked surprised.

"Y-you've been to CRINE before?" Stuttered Blue Beetle, or… Jaime, right? Yeah, Jamie.

"Sure have, multiple times. I DO have a life outside of this."

"You do?" Artemis asked teasingly.

"Yeah, I do." Rick responded indignantly. "It may be full of Disney songs and Anime, but it's a life." That prompted quiet laughter from the rest of the members of the team. He cracked a smile himself.

"Anyways," Batman interrupted. "One hour ago we received word from CRINE labs, saying that they had a break-in. The one who broke in is not only unknown, but also still inside." Nightwing's expression grew stern. That was bad. There were a lot of powerful beings in those labs, and a few were dangerous.

"What're we waiting for, let's go!" Nightwing growled. The others looked at him strangely, probably wondering why their former leader was so agitated about the mission. He had never been that way before. He turned away from the group, but Red Arrow grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait. Cool down, we can't just go jumping in there without a plan." He said, tightening his grip on Nightwing's shoulder.

"Yeah!" Wally chimed in. "Someone could get… hurt."

"Or killed." Roy raised an eyebrow at Rick, daring him to do something stupid. The hero sighed, turning around again.

"Fine, but let's make this quick. Anyone have a plan?" He snapped. The others looked at each other.

"I, for one, do not." Kaldur stated. "In fact, I've never heard of CRINE before today." The others nodded in agreement. "That means you are the only one who has ever been inside. So you should lead this one." Nightwing grinned, turning away again.

"Well then, let's go! For the plan, I'll just go with the old stand-by."

"What do you mean by 'Stand-by'?" Artemis asked warily. Nightwing stopped, looking over his shoulder with a sly grin.

"I'll make it up as we go along and hope it works. That's what I do with most plans." He chuckled at the slightly shocked expressions of his comrades. "Now get ready, we're leaving in 5."


	3. Chapter 2

Rick sat in a seat in the Bioship, his chin resting in the palm of his hand. He was aware that everyone else in the ship was staring at him curiously. He could only guess why, but it may have been his lack of explanation earlier…

XxXx Flashback XxXx

"So, where are we going, anyways?" Beast Boy asked as they approached the Bioship. "I mean, where is CRINE, anyways. And how are we going to get in?" Nightwing turned to him, holding up what looked like an ID card.

"With these. We're going to a place near Byers Lake in Alaska. There, we'll split into two groups. One goes through the back door, and a group will go in the front."

"Alright, so who is in each group and where are they going?" Wally asked, munching on a candy bar. He said that just for show, since he knew what the answer would be.

"Kid Flash, Red Arrow, Robin, Miss Martian, Artemis, Superboy, Zatana and I will go through the front door. Aqualad will take the others the back way. Each group gets a keycard, but we will need to be psychically for you guys to get in the back way."

"What do you mean? Why can't you get us in the back way?" Blue Beetle questioned, his eyes narrowing into a look of suspicion.

"Because the front door needs a retina scan. The back door is just a quiz of personal questions. Anything I need to clarify?" The others shook their heads in response.

XxXx End Flashback xXxX

Now Nightwing was sitting in the Bioship, with the others staring him down uncomfortably. Well, it wasn't because of hiding something from two of them, but because the ones who knew were worried for him. Once, since he had transferred his consciousness into the clone body, he had completely lost it. Someone had badly injured Tim, and Rick had gotten angry. Really angry. He had cut the person open and pushed him off the roof that they had been fighting on. It had terrified his little brother, but they had made up eventually. The others had heard about it, and were a bit frightened of him. Even still, they accepted him. Now, however, he was relying on the others to follow his orders and trust him completely. Rick was hoping that the others would listen no matter what they found there.

"Nightwing, we're approaching the first drop point. B team is getting ready to go." Miss Martian stated, breaking Nightwing out of his thoughts.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, good. Link us up." He replied, still distracted.

_Everybody here? _Miss Martian's voice echoed in Rick's head.

_Yes, we're here. Dropping now._ Aqualad's voice responded.

_See you all inside, good luck_. Nightwing stated, smiling to himself. This mission was going to be interesting, to say the least. Rick just hoped the intruder wasn't after… _them_. Then the entire team would be royally screwed.

"Nightwing, it's going to be fine." Wally said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I hope so…"

"Nightwing, we're at the drop point. Let's go." Megan interrupted.

"Ok." He stood up, looking at the tiny stone building they were approaching. It had been so long since Rick had seen that small building and what lay below it. He stopped himself from reminiscing, though, since he did not want the others hearing his thoughts.

Not long after they arrived at the stone building, Aqualad contacted them about the back door. _We are here. The first question is up. _Aqualad said telepathically.

_Good. You'll have to read me the questions, I can't remember what they are._

_The first one is, what is Nightwing's full name? _Aqualad asked. Nightwing smiled, this was going to be fun.

_Richard John Grayson. Next? _Rick waited for them to put the answer in. Some of the questions he knew would be fun to answer for the others' reactions.

_The next one is what was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?_

_My batman one. _Rick could hear the others laughing through the link.

_First case you and Red Arrow worked?_

_That was… _Nightwing couldn't remember what it was. There had been a lot.

_It was the Lady in White by Star City. I drove the car through the wall, remember? _Roy chimed in.

_I thought it was the whole Werewolf incident in Gotham… Nightwing heard Red Arrow sigh mentally._

_That was an accident that started us hunting._

_Ah. So, what Roy said. The Lady in White. Next? _

_Uh, _Aqualad said, most likely unsure about what had just been discussed._ Favorite color?_

_Blue! _Rick smiled, thoroughly enjoying answering the questions.

_And we're in. See you inside. _


End file.
